Ich overanalysiere immer Zeugs. That's it.
Ich hab mich entschieden hauptsächlich in englisch zu schreiben damit das für alle Leser lesbar ist. Außerdem finde ich hat man im englischen es viel einfacher sich auszudrücken
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*taps the sign* dazai isnt going to die. it isnt a "fitting" ending for his character nor does his IRL counterpart committing suicide mean it "foreshadows" bsd dazai's death. if anything, real life dazais suicide narratively ensures bsd dazai'll live and get a second chance
//tw: A LOT of discussion on mental illness/depression/suicidal ideations/trauma/abuse/etc., me swearing with the fervor of a crazed lunatic on a steep cliff portending the end of times bc the crows told me so//
*A lot* of people have been voicing their fears over how BSD will end w Dazai fulfilling his "wish" and committing suicide (w a beautiful woman). And I'm here to say: No. He won't die. He's going to be okay.
I consume *typhoons* of stories on a regular basis on multiple mediums, and I (personally) have never encountered a character as well-written in terms of mental illness representation than Kafka Asagiri's Osamu Dazai.
Dazai doesn't just have a range. He has an entire *spectrum.* But listen.
He has depth, intricacies, and mysteries to him. And, contrary to whatever he may say about himself, he's *very* human. Because of his wide variety of attributes, you can do a lot with his character without changing much of the canon template. *So many* people relate to him because of his versatility. By default, we know he's sad and suicidal -- which, may I add, are *extremely common* symptoms for just about every mental illness you can name. People with anxiety, eating disorders, trauma, ADHD, dyslexia, etc. -- they all have the /potential/ to identify with him because he expresses *regular emotions* a lot of them feel.
Dazai's relatability and widespread identification from the fandom, though concerning, is also a *comfort.* Because, through him, we're able to see ourselves *be* human.
Nobody ever makes stories about people in their 20s who don't know what the fuck they're doing. Let alone mentally ill *Asian men* in their 20s. Just briefly, the stigma against men having mental illnesses in general is *heavily* prevalent in Asia. I can't speak for Japan itself, but I know in general that I come from a continent rife with misunderstandings and discrimination against neurodivergent/mentally ill people. It's a byproduct of *many* things (*cough cough* colonialism and white hegemony) and a huge issue even now. Our mental healthcare systems hardly ever keep up with the exponential suicide rates, and millions are lost every year. IRL Osamu Dazai killed himself in 1948. And he certainly wasn't the last one to do so since then.
However, BSD Dazai's mental illness doesn't contrast/limit his humanity -- and Lord knows *so many stories* fail to do just that. Look at what most depictions of the mentally ill are like in media: A lot of the time, they're either irredeemable villains, uncontrollable monsters locked in psych wards, or literally possessed by some demonic supernatural entity. Or, alternatively, they're problematically infantilized/dehumanized: "O woe is me, I am a sad, helpless victim to the evils of the world and the only way this plot's going to show any semblance of thought is if I kill myself at the end as a 'fuck you' to society, wow, I'm *such* a revolutionary step against mental health stigma."
